Kicking off our top stories of the week is the first quarter 2009 financial report from Genuine Parts Co. (GPC). GPC reported sales of $2.4 billion in the first quarter of 2009, down 11 percent from the first quarter of the prior year. According to Chairman, President and CEO Thomas Gallagher, it was a challenging quarter in all of GPC’s business segments, with both the Automotive Group and GPC’s Office Products Group experiencing 7 percent declines. The Automotive Group however faired better than other business segments. Motion Industries, GPC’s Industrial Group, reported a 16 percent sales decline in the quarter, and EIS, its Electrical Group, had a 25 percent decrease.
Also in our most-viewed articles this week comes a new report from the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA), which stresses that while the decline in new car sales may mean an uptick in business for the aftermarket sector in the near-term, maintaining the health of the auto industry long-term is critical for the both the benefit of the aftermarket and the OEs going forward. “While this may appear to be good news for the aftermarket, our industry’s long-term health will be impacted by the unprecedented decline in new car sales now,” Handschuh said. “Dismal vehicle sales are setting the stage for stagnant aftermarket demand around the corner,” said Steve Handschuh, president and COO of AASA.
Signaling what could finally be a positive turn of events for automakers, a private investment group including equity firm Black Oak Partners LLC announced this week that it has approached General Motors about its interest in acquiring and operating the principal assets of Saturn Distribution Corp. The investment group hopes to establish a “new” Saturn Distribution Corporation (nSDC) as a unique model for new car retailing in the United States – a model built on Saturn’s customer-centric, low-hassle sales and service model. The company would leverage Saturn’s brand and source products from OEMs for distribution through Saturn’s existing network of approximately 440 U.S. and Canadian retailers. The group said the new SDC will become a model of lean-distribution that leverages unique Saturn equities, like its “market area approach.”
Within the auto parts distribution sector, another long-time family run operation has joined Federated Auto Parts. Located in Gainesville, Ga., Slack Auto Parts was founded in 1928 by William H. Slack Jr. Under his leadership, the company expanded into other markets in northeast Georgia. Today the business is run by Slack’s grandson, William H. (Henry) Slack IV, and currently has one warehouse, eight auto parts stores, a full-service machine shop and a heavy duty truck parts store with plans to conservatively grow in the future.
The final news item in our round-up of the week’s top news comes from Federal-Mogul, which announced the start of a new rebate promotion from its Fel-Pro brand. Automotive service technicians and engine rebuilders who purchase and install qualifying Fel-Pro PermaDryPlus leak repair gasket sets between April 15 and May 31, can earn cash rebates of up to $20 through the Fel-Pro Save & Seal Event promotion.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amy Antenora has served as Editor of aftermarketNews since 2002. She is also Managing Editor of sister publication Counterman magazine.
